Stockholm Syndrome
by Pilgrim93
Summary: After Loki's plan to become King of Asgard fails, he comes back to Earth to pay a visit to Jane and obtain his revenge. But instead of the scientist, Loki ended in kidnapping a young woman: the prison time is going to change both, creating a strange alchemy between them. Loki OFC. Please read and leave a comment, would be very much appreciated!
1. Intro

_Hei there :) This is my first english ff and my first one about a character I truly love (we all do, I think): Loki. _**  
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_I hope you're going to enjoy and, hopefully, review it. I'm not a mothertongue so please forgive me and send me a note if you  
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_find mistakes. Also if you have comments about the graphic, I'de be grateful cause I'm not an expert of .  
_

**Stockholm Syndrome**

* * *

_Intro_

Everything happened incredibly fast. A second before, she was trying to arrange an heavy box on the floor, the second later a strong grip was constraining her to immobility.

She did not have the time to scream, or get scared. Those eyes were too fast, as was the voice which followed the icy look she saw reflected from the window.

Also his words had somehow the wrong speed, like if the whole person behind her was made of nerves, anxiety and pain.

So the voice reached the inside of her mind, finally provoking the fear: "And now, Jane Foster, you will taste my rage". And it was cold, cold as if it was from another planet or coming from a different being.

The only thing she had the time to think before the world vanished was: why the hell this madmen was calling her Jane Foster?


	2. One week earlier

**_1: One week earlier_**

* * *

The first time she saw her new office was on a Sunday morning, lazily illuminated by a soft sunlight. The plate on the door still had the name of the previous research fellow, but she did not care much. The department of astrophysics was moving to another building, because of the recent important discovery they had made, and the school of architecture was taking their place instead. Who knows why, but schools of architecture always take the oldest spaces in every university.

Bec had just moved to New York from another city; to be more precise from another continent indeed. She considered herself quite the traveller; spent the last few years in Asia after a Msc in Scotland, and then she had won a bursary for a full financed PHd at the prestigious Columbia University. She just could not believe it.

But still, she was lonely. After two weeks in the new flat, her only wish was to meet colleagues from the department: that is why she wanted to go ahead with the work and be free the next couple of days.

As soon as she had the door wide open, she faced a woman about her age, apparently busy in putting books inside their new carton shelters. That was quite a surprise.

They stared at each others for a matter of seconds, then simultaneously spoke blabbering excuses, which soon changed to laughter: the ice was broken.

"I wasn't expecting somebody to be still here" said Rebecca, sitting on a desk while drinking a cup of hot tea.

All the seats were fully booked from boxes and every kind of objects.

"I'm sorry. I was supposed to have already freed the office, but I was attending to an important meeting in New Mexico last week" replied Jane.

"Oh, now I get it. You were in that new research that was on the Time this Summer, weren't you?"

"Yeah, well… actually, I am the lead"

That was surprising. She was probably just a couple of years older than her and still she was under the eyes of the whole world.

"Wow…! Let me just say, congratulations… I'm not really an expert of astrophysics, but it sounded like you have kind of proved the existence of parallel worlds"

"Sort of. But…we can say I had an important help. What are you up to instead?"

Becca did not need much encouragement to start talking about her major passion and very soon the two women were engaged in an exciting conversations about their studies and theories. Another cup of tea and two hours later they were still there, freeing the shelves and the desk's drawers together.

The architect was about to move a pile of notebooks when a picture on the corner of a board caught her eyes: "You should have asked your friend to help with the move!" she said, referring to the huge blond man in the photo.

The other woman's face shadowed a bit, then she answered with a lighter tone of voice: "He's not here now".

"Oh well… Sorry, I didn't mean to intrude."

"No, you… you know what? Actually it should be about time to get over it and just talk"

Rebecca gave her a gentle smile: "You broke up?"

"No. I can't even say we were together. – she looked at the picture with a sense of nostalgia – He kind of… disappeared, you know. He promised he was coming back, soon but… I am sure he was forced not to come back"

The photography was slightly blurred, like if its pixels where stretched to reach that size, and the couple wasn't even looking at the camera.

The speech of the astrophysicist sounded awkward to follow and Rebecca did not know what to say, so she just waited.

"I know how it sounds. But he is the reasons of my research. He is not quite from here"

"You mean… is he unique?" Man!, she thought, which woman never thought that once in her life.

"Let's say that. But he's a man of honour, he will come back. He has family issues"

"Who doesn't? I mean, every family has its trouble"

"His brother tried to cut him from their parents"

"Oh that's bad enough. Who would do that?" Bec said with a disgusted expression, she had a brother of her own and she never understood siblings who couldn't get along.

"A psycho with envy's complex, I'd say. – the scientist hesitated a bit before she kept going- They had a sort of rivalry since they were children, but now he's gone crazy and… he doesn't want to share the family's heritage"

"Well, I'm sorry for your friend then. All the best relationships can be ruined by money. You know what happened to my family for that?" said Rebecca, and then their dialogue took another direction.

It was late afternoon when finally they finished to move all the stuff from the office and surely time to say goodbye for that day.

"I cannot thank you enough for the help!"

"You're welcome. Just promised me you'll show me the new office next week"

"You can count of it, with a lunch break on me as well- said the scientist- And by the way, call me Jane"


	3. Captive

**_2: Captive_**

* * *

She was in front of him.

Finally, for months he had been searching and, finally, he now had reached the mortal.

He did not quite understand that world yet, not even their connections. His powers were weakened after he had left the Sky Citadel, so it was his freedom to move in the space as much as he wanted. He had to wait, patiently. His own magic could have betrayed him, shown to Heimdall where he was or, worse, what he was planning. And he couldn't let it happen. There was only one thing he could do now, to hurt his brother, to have a sparkle of revenge. Oh, but he was sure it would have been sweet and, somehow, also greater than what he had originally in mind.

The human moved a bit, even if she was still asleep, her eyebrows frowning a little as if she was having a nightmare.

Loki had moved to New Mexico at first, following the trace that the fool had left behind her: but in her office all the stuff was gone, and so was she. He remembered now how he had faced the first midgardian imposing him to reveal where Jane Foster was.

"I don't know man, can't you just google it?" the man had said.

That was the answer. Ah, sweet Earth.

Nothing was going to please him more in the future than destroy all that useless nonsense, that he could not quite understand. But he was a God, he did not need to understandsuch common things. He was superior, he was… chosen.

In that moment the girl started to wake up and he focused all his attention on her.

If he had to be honest with himself, he was quite surprised about the woman.

If there was a person whose tastes were different from his, that was his brother Thor. Obviously, in his opinion, Thor was very close to be almost tasteless at all.

But still, he had to admit: this human possessed a sort of… grace. But he was not a person to waste the word "beauty" for a thing that was not even blessed by divinity.

While he was lost in his own thoughts, the woman had completely waken up and now she was looking at him with a fiery look.

"Where…" she started, her voice still harsh from hours of forced sleep.

"Ah ah – " Loki stopped her, with a sound dragged but determinate. He suddenly felt the impulse to provoke her, pushing her, almost insulting her. "Do you really think I am here to answer to your questions, woman?"

"Who the hell are you?" she answered to that treat, the colour on her face starting to vanish with fear.

"Well, I am the one who is going to kill you, foolish human" he replied, a tone of soft politeness, like a cat ready to jump on its prey.

His voice cracked up on a laugh, long and dark, who echoed the steps of the God of mischief leaving the room.

Rebecca's mind started to work again, her eyes frantically exploring the space around her: she was in a very uncomfortable position, her hands bonded upon her head, chained to the wall. She had no idea how many hours she had been constricted in that position, but already she had lost some sensibility and the pain was conspicuous. Before she started to analyze the rest, she looked at herself, searching for some signs of violence; apart from some bruises on her wrists, she was fine. She was wearing the same outfit of that morning (or day before? She had no idea about the time now), a sleeveless shirt and a pair of jeans, nice and clean. At least the psycho did not touch her, or take off her clothes. She started shivering. She was in a strange room: empty, gray, with a widespread penumbra that let her see but not understand where the light came from. The space seemed endless, but still she could sense it close to her, taking her breath away. Something was wrong in that dimension, as if that kind of architecture was not even possible. Still, Rebecca was there.

And she had no idea about who was that crazy man that had kidnapped her.

He looked quite peculiar, not to say completely out of his mind. He was dressed in leather and rich ornaments, golden bracelets and shiny green fabric here and there. Rebecca was enough into cosplay to understand that it was a costume, not an ordinary dress. Certainly nobody was going to work wearing that robe. So the guy was probably delusional, maybe a mythomaniac. For sure he looked like a person with an ego bigger than himself, judging from the things he had told her. She was no hero, nor strong or trained to win over a man, especially one that tall: the only thing she could do, was buying herself some time, hoping that somebody, somewhere, was going to rescue her soon.


	4. Wrong

Hello all! :) I just wanted to thanks sydman24 and I-am-a-kitty for their recensions, plus the people who put the story in their alerts.

This chapter is quite dark, but what can I say... I don't like easy things!

Enjoy! ;)

**3: Wrong (Listening to Wrong, Dépêche Mode)**

* * *

He wanted her weak, and he wanted her to suffer. That is why he waited another day before going back to that room: but still her eyes were bright with impatience and fire. She still wasn't being weakened enough. Anyway, she dared not to speak.

He was carrying a bowl in his hands, and what he thought to be Jane's eyes glanced to it with craving: she had been more than 24 hours without drinking.

They looked at each other, then Loki, with perverted pleasure, put the ceramic in front of her and walked away, for seconds that lasted an eternity.

She threw herself to the little black thing on the floor, skinning her own skin, just to see that the bowl was effectively empty. The same moment she looked into those green poisoning eyes, she also adverted the warm of blood running down her arms.

She asked, knowing no answer was coming after the question, spending her last moistness to spit out that only word: "Why?"

He knew the girl was not expecting him to reply, still he found quite amusing that she talked: was she stupid, or just brave? That kind of braveness only his foolish brother could have. Maybe there was the answer. Because of that. Because she was the only connection left with Thor, because she looked to much like him, because he needed to break her.

But instead of answering, he came closer, unfastening the chains from the wall and picking up that tired body to its feet.

She closed her eyes only for a glimpse and when she reopened them, she found herself into a room completely different.

For a start, that was a bathroom, a disturbing one too.

The tubes and the tiles looked rusty, with a dirty opaque look. Still, she could have given everything for a sip of water from that sink. The water was everywhere, on the floor, on the walls, dripping all around except close to her. She tried to move, but he was forcing her to a barber seat, where belts tied her tight.

The crazy man looked focused on her face reflected on a giant wall mirror.

She started loosing her hopes when he put a leather gag on her mouth, preventing her from speaking again. She was tired, thirsty like hell, she did not feel the hunger anymore. Her clothes were dirty, she smelled bad and, most of all, she was scared, scared like she never had been in the entire life. She thought she had stopped to fight him.

But she was wrong.

He started cutting her hair off with a pair of shining scissors, with a slowness that made her understand how much he was enjoying that.

And she started screaming with no sound, trying to rebel, cutting her skin more and deeper again.

After half hour Loki was still cutting.

Rebecca had long black hair, not dyed, but a natural dark black, that looked a bit bluish under the light. They came to the middle of her back. At least they used to.

Before he started cutting, the god bent over a bit to smell them: they still had a little hint of vanilla and coconut. They were thick but soft.

"Such a waste" he grimed, smiling to her face, so close that for a second she thought he was about to kiss the bandage.

When the hair was nothing than a mass of thorns, he started shaving her with a razor. A that point, she dared not move. She just stood there looking at that alien face in the mirror: she looked pale, and sick. And she listened: to the sound of the water, and the rhythm of the razor that went back and forth on her skull.

"And now we are done." he said, smiling with satisfaction into their twins in the mirror.

When he snapped his fingers, the bathroom and the seat disappeared. She fell on the floor, almost crushing her face on the ground.

Loki stood upon her, unfastening the gag from her mouth.

She noticed the bowl, now full of water.

"Now you can drink, good boy"

She started crying.


	5. Sleepless

Hei there! :) Here it is the new chapter... it's very long and quite different from the previous one, but I really wanted to give a break to the darkness, plus create more connections between Rebecca and Loki. Please let me know if some parts are not clear or if you didn't like it :)

I'm glad you all seem to enjoy my very twisted Loki, I think that after seeing him in the avengers he couldn't have been to good or sweet...not so soon at least! And yes, I was quite inspired by V for Vendetta but also from the mithology about the hair cut ;D And don't worry she will manage to make him understand she's not Jane XD thanks to the new follower and to nico, grazie mamma, che splendida recensione! I'm thinking about the two sentences you didn't like, but I don't know if I can write them more originally with make them sound natural at the same time... I'll think about it!

**4: Sleepless**

* * *

(Listening to Through the distance, Pain of Salvation)

Loki couldn't sleep. He always used to sleep a few hours per night, falling into Morpheus's embrace while reading a book and waking up with the sunrise. But since he came to Midgard, sleep had completely abandoned him. He sat on the edge of the balcony, back to the wall, a leg dangling outside the iron barrier. The streets downstairs were crawling with humans: from that distance they looked like ants, almost more than usual. On the contrary, that evening he looked more a man than a divinity. He was not used to the warm New York's Summer, so he had put apart his Asgardian outfit to dress in lighter clothes. There were moments, like this one for example, while he thought that maybe he was making a big mistake. Could he not just wait for his family to rescue him? Could he not just ask for forgiveness? He would have paid a price, that was for sure, but with the everything would be forgotten. What were a couple of decades in a god's life?

But he could not forget. Not the lies, not the pride that was burning his coldness alive, not how his family had betrayed him.

So he came back inside, going to admire his last connection with… well, almost with everything. Revenge is everything for whose have lost all.

He had put the girl in an empty room he'd created inside a loft. The whole flat was spelled with charms to shield it from the Guardian of the Bridge, and he was free to work his magic inside it. That was the only space where he could still be himself, although a weakest version of whom he used to be.

She was deeply asleep. For a second he felt almost tricked: this creature was being kidnapped, psychologically tortured, left starving. Still she was sleeping, while he could not.

He came closer to the girl, curled up on the bare floor, and he looked at her better than he had before. Regardless the shaved head, the dirt and the tired aspect she was still pretty.

The absence of hair brought out the delicacy of her features: the juicy lips curved in a sulk, the long eyelashes, the olive skin, pure and smooth.

Loki reached one of his fingers to her carpe jugulum: she was warm. He made the finger slip down, almost in between her breasts; then he stopped there, listening to her heartbeats.

He was sure she was dreaming. He was going curious and curiouser about her focused sleeping expression. He just had to force a bit more, leaning his ebony hand on her neck and push.

He was inside her mind now.

That intrusion made the dreaming process start again: Rebecca was in the same position of reality, with the only exception of her hair, now long and gorgeous. Loki observed her waking up, making his own presence invisible. There was a door on the wall this time and she went straight to it. She wasn't stupid, he thought, while the girl opened it with every caution, almost waiting for him to show up.

She arrived to another room, a messy open space clearly abandoned.

"Oh, please, I would never have lived in a space like that." pointed out the god, walking behind Becca.

All the furniture was made of wood, smashed and covered in spider webs. Also the windows were covered with timber frames. She looked suspiciously around, then grabbed a rusty knife on the kitchen table in front of her. Close to the weapon there was a loaf of bread, that she started devouring without even breathing in between the bites. As soon as she finished to eat, strange noises came from outside the door.

Loki curiously watched her waiting behind the entrance, knife ready, sure that he was going to see himself killed. But the thing outside the door was slow to come in, and he saw the dead body walking inside the room before she did: it was a zombie, rotten and diverted. With his astonishment the girl reacted fast, driving the blade inside its head and managing somehow to kick the corpse outside. More sounds started coming, like an army of deaths was climbing the stairs to join them.

"Oh camon, not zombies _again_-" the girl frantically started to move a cabinet to block the entrance "– And where the hell is that psycho?"

As she said that, Rebecca turned in his direction and their eyes met.

"What's going on?" she said alarmed, while standing against the heavy wardrobe.

Loki watched behind him, curious to see what or who was coming next: but nothing was standing there, except for himself. He felt suddenly cold.

"I'm talking to you!- she spoke again, a certain urge in her voice- Is this one of your powers?"

The God definitely did not like that twist: dreams can kill. Especially if you're just about in the mind of a person you've been torturing and sizing.

"This is your work. You're dreaming" he said, coldly, expecting for her to wake up after the revelation.

But instead that waking up, the girl just shrugged her shoulders and talked like if she was explaining a very simple concept to a retarded: "Yes, genius. I know I am dreaming. Zombies is what I always dream about. But the sooner we understand what's going on, the sooner we can kill them. I mean, I can"

The corpses started pressing against the main door and the God was just able to stare at her, completely astonished by the situation. The god of mischief needed to clear his mind: if the human believed something, that was going to happen. If he died in that dream, he was possibly going to be very damaged in reality. She needed to believe him safe. He moved to help her close the door.

"We need to get out of here, this won't hold forever" she said, terrified.

"Calm down, woman. We're at the 4th floor, in open countryside. There's no other way than this door to let them in." After his words, the noises drastically reduced and the space around looked almost safer.

"Maybe it's like in The sun is up. They cannot stand daylight"

_What the hell is she talking about?_ –"Yes, I'm quite sure they are"

"We need to get out of here… is there another way to get out?"

She was right, although he was trying to calm her down, the door was about to collapse.

"There is a mezzanine over there, we just need to reach it". Fingers crossed, this was going to become true. The girl looked at him with a hopeful look.

"At my three. One, two…"

They started running. Simultaneously they crossed the prison room and the door got broken; there was a ladder behind the storage.

Loki ran faster, grabbing it before Rebecca, who started pushing him away.

"Ok, you first, go, go!" he yelled, helping her to reach the other floor as soon as possible.

It was finally his turn and he did not dare to watch behind his back: it was almost there, just another couple of steps and… the ladder felled down, while he reached the upper floor with a hand. At that point he dared a glimpse downstairs: the abandoned storehouse looked like fucking zombieland.

"Help me!" he screamed, Rebecca still watching the scene without moving. For a moment her face was full of doubts, her body unwilling to move.

"I'm screwed" Loki thought, in a very not godly way.

And then he felt her tiny hands reaching his, helping him to reach safely the mezzanine.

They were breathing heavily, their paintings covering the yelling from the monsters.

He faced her and he finally spoke: "Why did you do that? Why did you save me?"

Surprisingly, she smiled: "It's only one of my zombie dreams. I'm the hero, I don't let people die".

For a moment he almost replied to that smile, than he looked away.

She was quite surprised of that intimacy as well, because she moved to the other part of the floor, reaching for some clothes and bags. Instead than staying there alone, she came back to him.

Their bodies were close, he felt the warmness. She gave him a headphone, showing him how to plug it in his ear.

"What are we doing?"

"We're waiting the dawn. And we'll listen some music"

Again that smile.

And in the chaos of the zombie apocalypse, almost in the arms of her kidnapper, Rebecca rested her head on his shoulder. She fell asleep on her own dream, music all around them.

Loki walked away from the chamber, still shocked for the danger he put himself in. In his hands, the music device that he'd just seen before in her mind. He started it and found the same song again. Five minutes later the God was sleeping on the couch, surrounded by a vanilla smell that was not his. And finally, he slept.

"When I was a child I saw her every day/  
I never dared to touch her/  
Scared to break that spell/

And now the years have passed us by/  
And all that could've been is left behind/  
'Cause I loved her safe from the distance"


	6. She will speak

**5: She will speak (Listening to Mortar Grind, Pain of Salvation + Fragile from NIN)**

* * *

Rebecca woke up the next morning. She couldn't know if the sun was out or not. A loaf of bread closed to the water took her mind away from other thoughts. The prison time was making her an animal: eating, drinking, there was nothing else. Even the loss of her hair was unimportant respect to that bite of bread that was going to fill her emptiness. A bench had appeared during her sleep, that didn't surprised her either. Or she was going mad, or her kidnapper was no human at all. Both ways; she had no powers to stop the events.

She was expecting him to visit her soon, but he did not show up. She put herself on the bench and slept again: there was nothing else to do there.

When she woke up the second time, she kind of adverted his presence.

In fact, he was there, sit in a awkward position on a wooden chair. The closet looked bigger, similar to an ancient throne room.

"Her look changed", Loki thought. After three days she lost her hopes, the sense of time... while he had earned the power of the fear.

But somehow, he sensed that she feared him, but at the same time she was not afraid: her hazel eyes were looking deep into his and they did not move.

"You know what I want" he said, slowly. He was kind of hoping that she was going to speak then, and gave him no reason to harm her again.

"Honestly, I don't- her voice was firm- You called me Jane Foster, but my name is Rebecca…"

"SHUT UP! You _don't_ want to make me angry!" his voice, extremely powerful, stopped her speech.

She pushed herself closer to the wall, visually shaking.

"You shall speak" Loki said, turning his face away from the girl, just to watch her the minute after it. His eyes were burning of hate.

He had try to be merciful, and despite that, she was just lying to him.

"A liar- he said, echoing his mind – You're nothing but that. And you're nothing to me"

He raised his hand against Rebecca, and she made her leaven from the bench. She tried to scream, but that invisible hand was choking her throat. The God gave another push and her body hit the wall. He hurt her a couple of times more, then she let her fall to the ground.

The woman put herself on the knees, finding the words again.

"Please, stop it… tell me what have I done to you, what do you want..." she spoke while sobbing, tears of rage and pain wetting her face.

Loki sighed.

"You know. You are my brother's lover. I _command_ you to tell me what happened! I want to know what relationship you two share."

She lifted her surprised eyes toward him: "Your… brother?"

"Thor, the god of thunder!" he yelled, impatiently. My goodness, why did she have to make it so hard?

"You really are crazy" she said, her mouth opened, just realizing that it was not the best thing to say to a raged wizard.

Loki's face darkened, and she lift her up again: to his command chains of ice started to form against her wrists and ankles. She was still one meter higher of the floor, and her own weight pushed her down, making the ice hurting her skin. Those chains were biting her harsh.

He was holding an icy knife in his hand, as he appeared in front of her after vanishing in the static air.

"I can smell your fear" he said, as a matter of facts. Every feeling was washed away from him: he did not care anymore.

He started ripping her skin, caressing her inner arm with the blade, a red flood blooming after its kiss.

First she screamed, then she broke up in tears as she had never done before: and when Rebecca started crying, she couldn't easily stop. She just went on crying and crying for hours, until every single tear had find its way out to her neck.

Maybe it was that desperate weeping that made Loki finally listen to her.

"Please, please, stop! Why are you making me this?" she sobbed, almost incapable to connect all the words.

Loki slapped her face: "He took everything. He always had more than me. And just when I was the only one who could have take his place, I realized that nobody wanted me there. Not even the people I thought to be my parents. And you ask me why am I making this?" – his eyes were like a beaten beast's who's trying to find its way out alone- "Yeah, how could you possibly understand? You're like Thor: everything of you says so. You're brave, pure, positive"

He came closer, touching her dirty chin with his fingers.

"Even now you didn't completely lost hopes, am I right? I beat you're always being first and life was easy for you, all doors opened for your beauty. As it was for Thor: he had the throne, Mjölnir, our parent's love and attention, he even had the girls. And I… I only had his love, never his admiration, never his respect."- he made a pause, breathing heavily- "At least now I'm going to have his hate too".

Rebecca realized he was deciding how to finish her. And she didn't want to die, not there, not in that awful way. Still, instead than begging or praying him to see the truth, she came out with something else. She didn't even know why she spoke so: maybe it was the rage to be given as known thing.

"I'm used to say that I've always won as a looser- she whispered and, seeing him waiting, she kept talking- The first time I finally arrived first I was 24. Before that, I never achieved the first place in anything. I have never truly distinguished myself. And I've tried so hard, so many times, but nobody really got me. Do you think I had a perfect life? What do you know about me? My family always asked me too much and never got me for who I really was, always trying to push me in their direction. I've so much wanted to prove them they were wrong, but I'm just different from all the standards".

Loki was listening, his hand laying against his leg, the knife melting into water.

"I see your rage." She spoke again, looking into his green eyes.

"Why are you telling me this?" he whispered.

"Because no matter what, you're just destroying yourself in this way. This jealousy, this revenge… I was like you. And you know when I started to feel better? You know why do you see me positive and strong?"

The God shock his head.

"Because I stopped to do things trying to prove something. I started doing them for myself only"

Loki reached her bruised face; and he did what he should have done from the first instant. He entered her mind: it was clean and transparent, so full of light as his was probably dark and desperate. She was not lying, he saw them all. Her sacrifices, her angry years, how much she was changed.

"You… you're not Jane" he said, in shock.

"My name is Rebecca."


	7. Following the night

**__**_Hei there! So sorry for the late updating, I'm so busy writing my final dissertation and I barely have the time to write. But I didn't lost my inspiration, and I'm still thinking about these two ;D Thank you very much for the reviews, the cookies (eheh), for who follows, reads and put the story in its fav!  
_

_This chapter is a bit slow and introspective, they needed a break... but next one will be more existing, promise :P  
_

**_6: Following the night_**

* * *

_I'm... I'm sorry_. "Say it. Why don't you just say it? You, stubborn goat!" Loki mentally yelled to himself, without results. His voice was paralysed and he just kept looking at Rebecca's eyes and his own hands.

The girl was keeping her breath, waiting for a reaction that it didn't want to come.

After a long minute, he finally managed to melt the icy chains with a spell, then he walked out of the room.

_Jeg beklager_, he thought: I'm sorry. The first language he learned coming do Misgard. But the words just didn't want to be pronounced and, in the end, he vanished in thin air, just wishing to be alone, away from his failure.

And maybe it was for the sounds of that unspoken sentence, he found himself in a dark and ancient forest. He remembered that quite well, so well that it almost made him smile. A bitter smile.

He didn't think where to go, he just wanted to have some piece of mind.

Norway was silent and coldly beautiful that night of May; his godly senses could advert no people for miles. Loki walked following the stars, then he looked for the magical signs the have left millennia ago, when he was still a child and still Odin's son. The cantrips were there; on the woods, on the foreigner light in the stones, in the eyes of the animals who grow up close to magic.

He reached the wall of a mountain and after a command, the rock opened up revealing a curious interior, a mixture between a witch's house and a lumberjack's cabinet.

And there, in that abandoned cave, he felt what he didn't feel for years: Loki felt home.

On the pallet on the floor there was a wool blanket he had stolen to a mortal playing dices; there on the wall was a surprising painting he did of the landscape; just on the corner of his eyes he could see his brushes and colours.

Once he thought he could have come back to Earth and did what he have done in his young years: playing with humans, taking pleasure from arts and books, forgot Asgard. When he was only seventeen, he loved to come down there, already able to shield himself from the Guardian's view, and built up a new life. The uneducated habitants of the Earth have recognized him as a God (to be honest, he didn't have to do much for that. A couple of sparkles, some physical manipulations... they were simple people) and he had fresh fruits, honey, and women too. As many as he wished.

But Thor ruined everything, of course.

The little brother wanted the God of Thunder to be part of his little secret and, after neither one week, all Asgard knew. Yes, because Thor was not person to keep something for himself; he couldn't hold his tongue even for his beloved Loki.

From the court's gossips to Odin's ears the step was short: the Allfather had taken down his adoptive son's tiny realm and made the two brothers swear they never do something so stupid and reckless again.

But Loki knew it wasn't Thor's fault: it was his own. He shouldn't have show him his enchanted forest: everything shared was something lost.

There was another thing Loki had to admit, though. The five days spent down there with Thor had been better than the whole year he played the God of Norway alone.

And there, alone in the silence, the God understood how senseless his life had become. He had tried so hard to change his role in Asgard without any results. Now he had nothing left from the things he cared about: not his father's love, not his brother's, not a place where to sleep safe in the night.

He only had his stupid revenge. And also that was then turned into failure. His mind went to the scared human he kept captive for days: not just scared, but also strong in someway. He thought to her words again: change his attitude, live just for himself. But what if there was nothing to live for now?

Strangely, the only thing left from that attempt of vengeance was her: that tiny, powerless girl.

_Should I spare her life? Should I let her go? _

Selfishly, he didn't want to be alone again. He wasn't proud of the tortures he had inflicted to her but he has to admit one thing. Knowing that another person was close to him, completely depending from his wishes, had made him feel like he has some importance in somebody's life.

Rebecca saw her kidnapper walk away from her and suddenly disappear. She shouldn't have to be shocked, but still she was: from all the things she had seen him doing, that was the most absurd and inexplicable of all.

She waited for him to reappear, but after a couple of minutes nothing had happen, so she dared to painfully get stand on her feet.

Her body was completely bruised and some cuts on her arms had just stopped bleeding.

She ascertained to be smashed but luckily out of danger: she could still move all her arts. Just some movements hurt her so bad to make her scream.

Slowly she reached the door she had dream to get out from and she pushed it wide open.

"Oh, that's not what I expected" she thought, looking at the spacious, white flat in front of her.

She felt so dirty that, for a reflex, she looked down on the floor, to see if she was leaving any footprints on those marble tiles.

After that, she looked at the main door and, being certain that nobody was in there, Becca walked straight toward it. Finally, she reached her hand to grab the handle, discovering that she couldn't touch it: an invisible wall kept her apart from the entrance. She gave a scream of rage, after realizing that she had to yell for help. After several minutes nobody had answered her and she was loosing her voice.

Then Bec looked around, searching for a telephone with no results: the apartment was a huge open space, where even the shower was unsheltered by prying eyes. Several high windows led to an all-round terrace with no plants and flowers.

The internal furniture instead looked as if somebody had removed all the personal effects of the occupants. Or at least, almost all their personal effects: the house was full of books, some opened on couches and tables, most of them still on the shelves.

She saw all this with her architect eyes, but what really caught her human attention was the bathroom space, that she managed to reach without messing to much around her. It wasn't that she really _cared_ about the space, she just didn't want to make her kidnapper crazier than how it was.

Rebecca was by now sure that the man had blocked all her way out from the flat and she could only take care of her wounds. She gave a sight of relieve discovering that some of the owner's things were still there, like the first aim kit with disinfectant and bandages. She had to clean the cuts first and the girl knew that a shower was the smartest option.

She was craving for one too. With every attention, she took off her dirty clothes and entered in the bathing hut for the fastest, but still best, shower she ever had. The hot water hurt her cracked skin, but also washed away the dirt and the humiliating sense of captivity.

After it she smeared her skin with pomades and cleaned the wounds with the disinfectant, finishing the cure by bending her arm.

Rebecca did everything nervously, waiting for the madman to jump on her every second, but when she has done, nobody had bother her.

She dared to search inside a wardrobe for clothes, discovering some items pretty much her sizes: simple and, most of all, clean. At least in that moment she had something to be grateful for.

Exhausted she lay down on a couch, thinking that if she had to face her kidnapper's fury, she preferred to do it comfortably.


	8. I know he is here

_Hei there! _

_I'm so sorry for the delay, I was finishing my Msc and moving back to my hometown... I know the last chapter was a bit slow, but I hope you will like this one better... can't wait to know what you think of it! Leave me comments if you like it! Cheers :)  
_

_E._

* * *

**7: I know he's here**

When Loki returned to the apartment he felt surprised finding the human girl laying in the sofa, looking at the door like if she was waiting for him to come back.

_She really is brave, or maybe just dumb._

Whatever she was, that feeling of having somebody pending from his decisions came back again, painting a grin on his pale face.

The god wanted to tease her again, in a more gently way that he has done the previous days: he now had no reason to harm her. Loki just wanted to keep her for entertainment while he was making up his mind.

His true nature of being thoughtful had the best on his instinct, as always, and so Loki decided to study her before doing anything.

After a brief look around the flat, he saw that the girl has provided to change her clothes and bending the wounds. He was sure that they still hurt; it was a matter of fact since Rebecca was lying uncomfortable and making strange noises every now and then.

The situation was pretty static and Loki was just wondering if it was time to act, when the girl suddenly spoke out loud.

"Oh camon, it's not possible that he's leaving me here to die" she barely stand up, walking around searching for a way out.

Her eyes caught something familiar in a blind spot between two armchairs: she reached the object and gave a scream of joy.

"My bag! Great, maybe the bastard forgot to take the phone!" she said, mumbling.

"Blimey" thought the God, looking her reaching for the shiny little object. He knew enough about these damn things, even that they were able to signal somebody's position without the need of talking. If he were to be King of Asgard, this technology was going to be surely restricted.

Rebecca was frantically typing, when with a snap of Loki's fingers, the phone literally exploded in her hands.

"God damn!" she yelled, leaving the burning object fall to the floor.

"I might punished you for that. And for the bastard."- the Asgardian replied politely, still without revealing himself- "A lady shouldn't speak like that, either"

He was impressed by her constancy though: it was better not to leave her alone for too much. Who knows, next time she might have try to set the house on fire just to attire some attentions. Speaking of what, he started casting spells to prevent fires.

When the mobile burned, Rebecca felt sure that somebody was in the room with her. She was sure that the maniac was back.

And what can you do if you're locked somewhere with a crazy person, moreover invisible?

Not having a smart answer for that, she decided to stay quiet and grab a book from the shelves.

Loki silently approved that decision; he took a book as well, occupying the other sofa.

The two of them silently read for some hours. After that time even the God of mischief was starting to feel his eyes heavy, while Rebecca was totally into the book she has found.

Loki rested his volume on a side and came closer to her.

_She is moved_. He thought, smiling like if he was watching to an unharmed pet.

From that distance he discovered details that he has not cared about before. Her face was quite pathetic without hair, but the scratches cannot hide the grain of her sweet olive skin, her pink cheeks as juicy as her lips. Her lips were bended in a curious expression of sadness, like if she was trying to resist a feeling.

_I can't believe she is about to cry for a book. _

And then it happened, naturally like it would have been for a child: bitter tears failed from her eyes, while that pout finally opened in a broken sighing.

Was she crying for the story or for her unknown fate?

Loki did not know, but with one of his marble finger collected one of the drops and it sucked it up.

It was sweet and sour, as he felt in that moment for the little human girl.

While the pale ghostly touch caressed her cheek, Rebecca re-had the sensation not to being alone. She couldn't say why, or where was the presence, but she found it very creepy.

"I need to find a distraction or I'll end up crazy" the girl thought, passing away from the Asgardian who followed her behind.

The kitchen was clean and bright, on the same white colour of the rest; the fridge was almost empty but looking inside the cabinet she found enough to make a meal out of it. And on the left shelve, a more interesting discovery: a nice harvesting of wine bottles and alcoholics.

"That's something I totally need right now" she said, grabbing a rosè and pouring herself a generous glass.

At the half time of the cooking the glass was empty far away from her, and so was that first bottle.

While she drunk, her face get coloured of a gentle red as she was warmed up by the alcohol and the stoves. Loki watched her skin, now more exposed by the simple vest she was wearing. He was sit in front of her, on the other side of the stovetop, absorbed by all of her moves.

Silently he materialized a bottle of whisky on his hand and he joined her in the drinking.

She ate, wine on one hand, fork in the other.

Loki had a glass.

She scratch her neck, making him discovering a tattoo over there.

The god had another glass.

She opened the third bottle, licking some of the amber liquid from her fingers.

Loki drank again.

It arrives a point where the architect was starting to feel unbalanced and the God was tipsy.

It was in that moment that Rebecca decided it was time to clean up the mess and she stand up, dangerously walking toward the kitchen.

She did not see the empty bottle rolling on the floor, but Loki did.

The girl felt herself falling to the floor, with the unhappy certainty of being unable to avoid it, and there she was: into the strong arms of her kidnapper.

She firstly smelled an aroma of leather and pines, then Becca saw his face close to her like she haven't see before. His green eyes were looking into hers, smiling of a bright and vicious light.

_Wild fire_, was her first, unconscious thought.

"Could you please let me go?" the architect asked, quite uncomfortable.

"My pleasure" he replied, without stopping that smirk.

"Aren't you all sweets and politeness now? – she said, without any bounds- And thanks very much for the help and all the rest… you know, like your tortures and cutting my hair off"

"Oh that… yes, I think we didn't really start with the right step" Loki replied and, with a courteous gesture he gently pushed her back on the sofa


	9. How does it feel to be alone

**8: How does it feel to be alone**

* * *

After the first impression of surprise the girl remembered the potential hazard of the man who sat in front of her. He was not a man, though. First of all, he was not human – not of the kind she used to know at least- and second, he did not look much older than her. She had celebrated her 27th birthday the last spring, the kidnapper looked no more than 30. There was a peculiar thing anyway: he might have looked even younger, but for his dark green eyes.

Now he was silent, pouring himself a glass of something strong and drank it down in one time.

Loki didn't have any whish to apology, but he also knew that the situation was not going to change on its own.

"Please, calm down. I don't have any desire to harm you"

"I am calm, thank you".

"Oh, you aren't. I can read you well, I'm afraid, and you cannot lye to me. – Loki drank another sip, almost to help him out with the speech- I made a mistake in kidnapping you. I thought you were someone else. I was blinded by rage and vengeance".

Rebecca looked at him completely disarmed by that sort of apology. Was he serious? Was it maybe a trap?

The alcohol helped her replying fast: "Great, are you waiting for a cheering then?"

"No, Rebecca, I don't. I just expect some… human comprehension, perhaps".

After he had said that, Loki himself remained surprised of it; because finally, after months of cheating, he just had told the truth. When he had came to her, he was not searching for sympathy… he was not searching it from her, that sure, but what about the last years, what about his all life?

And then the god saw himself with the girl's eyes: the brutal man who had let her starve, and suffer, for days.

"You didn't show any mercy to me…" Rebecca had the courage to reply.

After a while, he offered her his own hand.

"Please, let me repair to it. I am speaking truly". He forced his green eyes into hers, and Becca found herself standing up and walking closer to Loki. It was a sort of spell, but sweet this time: the asgardian hand grazed her head, then her body.

His touch was somehow intriguing: she shivered while cursing herself for that.

When he let her go, all the bruises were disappeared.

Finally he let his hand pass over her head and she suddenly felt her hair growing up back: it wasn't a painful sensation, just an utterly strange one.

She was so stunned to not even react while Loki caressed her dark hair, fluently lying on her back like if nothing had happened to them.

The prince was admiring the effect of his spell, a shade of satisfaction in his icy heart when she finally, uncertainly, smiled.

"I probably have to thank you now"

"Don't. It was my fault in the first place. But I'm glad of…" he stopped, and she gave him an interrogative glance.

"I'm just glad to have given you back your beauty" he finished.

Rebecca noticed he had a very hypnotic voice, like a melody from another world.

His physical closeness made her also realize how tall he was, towering over her meter and sixty-five centimetres.

She backed up of some steps and, tired, fell down on a sort of pillow on the parquet.

The God didn't find appropriate for his status to sit like that, but he decided to go with it as well.

Rebecca was playing with a tress, black like ink and thick as wool, when he heavily whispered: "I think you were probably right about me."

"About what?" the girl was careful like he was about to explode in a minute.

"About my rage" he said, calmly.

"Look, I didn't want to judge or something…" Bec said, thinking that she should have want to go out from it, instead that keep speaking.

But those piercing green eyes looked into hers with so much intensity that she shut up, waiting for him to say more.

"I don't even know where to start. I thought …" he paused for a long time.

"I thought I was above all their comments, but I wasn't. You don't understand, don't you? Sometimes _I think_ I barely understand myself. I grow up as a prince in a world that you don't even know that exists. My father taught me justice and love, but I come for fear and darkness. I was adopted. My true father is a giant who rules a land of eternal ice. He's a monster… I am a monster"

Rebecca was wondering if she had to say something, but she was speechless.

"How can I know love and trust if nobody ever showed it to me? – he said in desperation- The people who reared me never told me the truth of my origins. The Asgardians just loved my brother Thor and treated me differently… I did what I did just to prove I was worthy of the throne just as much as him"

" What have you done?" she asked.

"I betrayed them all. I tricked my brother so he was exile from Asgard. And I tried to take his place" Loki murmured, his actions looking so selfish and stupid while he was actually saying them aloud.

"You… don't sound like you hate him"

"Who?"

"Your brother. And I think he does not hate you either…"

The Asgardian did not reply, and they both had another glass.

Rebecca was starting to feeling sleepy from all that wine, but she did not want to collapse. She had the strangely sensation that he needed to speak to her and giving advices was a thing she was always being good at. So the girl rest her back on the sofa, while listening to Loki's words.

"I don't hate him. I just want him to respect me, to treat me as equal. He have always treated me like I was in need of him. Like I wasn't able to stand for myself. Even if, between us, I am the smart one. He just have more muscles. Also his brain is made of muscles, I think"

Rebecca gave him another smile.

Why speaking to that mortal was making him feel so good?

"But… He's not going to forgive me. For what I have done to him" Loki thought about the terrible moment when he had ordered the destroyer to kill Thor. He realized he didn't want to tell the girl about that. What she was going to think about him?

Not that he cared… it was just because he did not want her to fear him again.

It was a godly thing. Thor was a God. Loki would not have expected from him any less than come back to life. That is why he did it.

And because there was no way out for him anymore.

Laufey was going to enter Asgard anytime soon, he had to free himself from his opponents. Even if Thor was one of them.

He was still struggling in the memories from the past when he turned to face her and he saw that the tiny misgardian was asleep, her head laying softly on his own shoulder.

"_Curious_,- he thought. –It's already happened in her dream, but she surely don't remember it".

He looked at her with a mixed feeling of anxiety and peace.

He still did not know what do to with her… but in the meaning time, they were far better going to sleep.

* * *

Thanks for reading, I'd love to have some feedbacks from you guys :) I'm curious about it!

E.


	10. Midnight's song

**9: Midnight's song**

* * *

Rebecca opened her eyes slowly, like if she was still lost in her dreams.

It was at least two in the morning: the flat around her was dark, wrapped in a velvet blue light that only the unconsciousness can give. The space looked different in proportions and colours, like if everything was painted with a shade of thick gray.

Where was she? She couldn't quite understand that, neither why a daft noise was hammering from inside her head.

Then Becca remembered the bottles of wine.

_Oh that's why_ – she thought, mumbling in her half-sleep.

She moved to turn and, while doing that, she stretched her arm on the other side of the bed.

Her hand met a smooth surface, like marble, colder than her skin. It was a pleasant sensation.

She let her hand wonder on it, going from up to down, following that natural curve.

Then she finished to turn and she stand the sleeping face of her kidnapper, quietly asleep beside her.

Suddenly she remembered everything: their alcoholic chats, his sort of apologies, how vulnerable that man was regards his family and his past… maybe it was because of the drinks, maybe because she was still dreaming: she found more easy to accept what have happened between them. And it was not that awkward having him so close.

Her hand on his back, though, that was quite too much. She removed it.

Loki was laying on his stomach, his chest naked. Unlighted by the moon it looked like a sculpture, the curves of his muscles perfectly relaxed, his divine profile with a thoughtful expression even in his sleep.

_How can he be so crazy and still so beautiful?_ She thought, admiring his body unwrapped in the linen.

Then the tiredness won over her, and she felt asleep again, her hand not for away from Loki's waist.

"I don't even know his name" were the last conscious words in Rebecca's mind.

When Loki woke up the dawn was already arrived.

The flat was gently lighted by the sun: the day was looking promising of new starts, like only that kind of morning glare can give.

He was facing the girl.

She was half meter away from him, the strap of her top felt down reviling her naked shoulder. Rebecca's face was innocent and relaxed.

Loki thought she looked younger like that; then he noticed her breasts, going up and down from her breathing.

As first reaction he wanted to kiss her, strongly, passionate, for no reason except that he wanted her badly.

He lowered his eyes instead, and he saw her tiny hand not far away from his body.

He touched it: she was warm and soft, and if he kept quite he was also able to listen to the sound of her heart.

When he looked up again, Rebecca was awake and she was staring to him, awkwardly trying to take her hand.

"Did I wake you up?" he asked, slowly letting her go.

"Maybe" she answered, touching her own hand almost if she was checking out that it was still all right.

They didn't move for a while, mostly they looked to each other, recording every detail of that strange situation.

"Yesterday…- she said- I don't remember what happened…"

"You felt asleep. I put you on the bed. I thought you wouldn't have like to sleep on the floor"

"Yeah, sure. You're right"

"And then, I supposed I was a bit tipsy as well… that's why I collapsed here too" Loki replied, and he was surprised to see her blushing.

"Cool. So… nothing… I mean, we didn't do anything… strange right?" Rebecca asked. She so much wanted to sound self-controlled, but she knew that a situation like that might have been dangerous. Did he take advantages of her? Or worse… did she try something, completely ignoring the fact that the stranger have tortured her only one day before?

Loki smiled, and he felt the impulse to come over her, ruling her body with his own.

Instead he backed up, standing up from the bed.

He was naked, so he covered himself with a bed-shirt. Still, the muscles of his perfect shape were visible and his pale skin exposed to the golden light of the day.

"Do not worry, Rebecca. I promise, I will never left an hand over you again. You don't have to worry about me anymore"

The girl felt reassured by that, even if the guy still didn't mentioned anything about realise her.

She didn't want to push her luck to much. Maybe another time.

"You call me by name, but I still don't know yours"

He turned to look her in the eyes.

"I am Loki of Asgard. I thought I was burdened with glorious purpose. But I tried to be king, and I failed. I don't know what I want anymore, but I know what I am. I am an outcast… and I am a God, no matter what."

Rebecca gulped: standing over the sky from the window, half-naked and inhumanly beautiful, Loki did really look like a God.

And she was still his prisoner.


	11. Taking Measures

**10: Taking measures**

* * *

"Ehi, do you think it would be possible to bring another thing too?" Rebecca asked, and Loki gave her a fake-annoyed look from above the book he was reading.

Three days have passed from the night when they started speaking to each other, and things were changed a lot since.

"What do you want now, greedy girl?"

"Well, there was this other book on my desk … it's very tiny!"

Loki put a thoughtful expression on his face, then he made a fluid gesture and, when he has completed the turn, the book was there.

"This one, perhaps?" he asked, grinning of her surprise: she still had the same happy reaction of the first time he has made appeared a thing.

The first day they had spent it studying each others, reading, eating some take away food Loki had brought from the outside world.

The second day Rebecca was almost sure that the mysterious God was going to keep his word about leaving her safe, and she had dared to ask him to let her work.

Loki wanted to please her and he wanted her trust, so he had agreed.

He liked Rebecca's company: she was smart, fun and she didn't seem to care of many things Asgardian worried a lot. Maybe it was because she was a mortal, and she didn't want to waste her limited time of that life being unhappy. She always tried to make the most of her days: even there, in the limited space of the apartment.

It was strange how tiny tricks impressed her that much.

Loki was thinking about the first times he had practised magic: the sense of wonder from the other boys whenever he had materialized objects and small animals. It was the first time he had ever felt superior to everybody else… a feeling that had died when they started fight practise and he never won over Thor once.

In the meaning time, Rebecca was working hard: tired of the many days of nothing, she wanted to keep up.

Reading and working was relaxing for her. First, it made her feel like she was back to normal again; second, she had never liked to stay still.

However, her focus was broken by the presence of Loki, the god of mischief, who was reading in front of her.

He still remained a mystery.

"Again… how do you make it?" she asked him.

Loki sighed, but it wasn't obviously really pissed off by the question.

"All the universe is made of little pieces… let's say they are like pixels on a screen. They stand in a specific order and position. If you know where to look, you just have to reach your hand and take them. You move their coordinates."

"Do you think I might learn?"

"I'm sorry to disappoint you, but it might be impossible for a human being".

"Oh. You have to be a God, I suppose"

"Yes. But being that it's not enough. – Loki smiled- You should have seen my brother trying to vanish things. In the end I was so sad for him, that I helped him out... I never told him, but he really believed he has done it!" he finished laughing, and she laughed with him as well.

Other two days were spent nicely in the flat, during which Loki and Rebecca woke up together, ate the same food, talked about everything but their pasts.

It was like being out of time and, strangely, it was very pleasant for both the God and the girl.

They found to have many things to talk about.

Rebecca was fascinated by the fact that he was even more stubborn than her; the so-self-proclaimed God was so strict in his judgments that she had to be the one who make the other reconsider his positions. And he had a brilliant mind as well: finally in control of himself, he was extremely lucid and cultured, with a surprising opinion on everything.

On the other hand, Loki was maybe more astonished than her. Rebecca was definitely on a different levels respect to the humans he had normally meet. Of course, he had friends between great writers, philosophers, commanders, governors, popes… all men and women with an important position or career on earth… that was just a girl he had meet (well… kidnapped) from the street. Rebecca had a sort of raw charisma, a great energy she put in everything she did. Not only she was pretty, and when she smiled he made him feel… satisfied by that vision… but there was more: she was competent, intelligent and, as result, they never stopped to pleasantly argue about things.

However, the more her company made him feel good, the more he worried about the fact that she wasn't there willingly and, most of all, about what he was supposed to do with her.

The girl never asked him to leave, but he saw the question lingering in her mind, the time he had touched it when she was looking reflective on something. And he was afraid of that, he didn't feel ready to let her go away… he didn't want to taste the loneliness once again.

That moment was one of that: it was rainy, a bit foggy for the smoke, and she was looking the people walking downstairs.

He almost appeared next to her, silent as always.

"What are you looking at, young Lady?" he said, trying to joke with a petty name.

It worked, because she smiled him back, surprised but not upset by his intrusion.

"People. They look so busy over there… this made me think of the first time I arrived here"

"Were you… lonely?" he frowned, comparing that situation to his.

"Oh no, that's not what I was thinking. That's another way to put it, I suppose. But when I moved in New York… I didn't like it that much. You know, I'm from a tiny city, and I have lived some years in Edinburgh too. Places where life was easier, more relaxed. Maybe I liked it more"

"So… why did you come here?"

"It's not that I don't like it now. I get used to it. It was just strange at the start"

"Not everybody can so easily adjust themselves to a new environment"

"They probably need more time. And some friendly help- Rebecca answered, wondering if Loki was talking about her or himself. She changed topic, lost in her nostalgia – Autumn is my favourite season. But it's not so charming here as it was in Scotland".

"Would you like to see it?"

"Are you kidding? – she gave him a playful flinch- I'd give my right hand for that!"

"Oh- Loki gave her an outrageous smirk, taking Becca from her arm and made a step- Lucky you I don't need it, then"

The moment they touched the ground again, it was on the naked earth, surrounded by a beautiful Caledonian forest.

"Are we… -she breathed heavily- did you… what the hell?!"

Becca exploded in a sort of surprised scream, looking around and touching everything: the leaves and the soil were definitely real, they were not in the big apple anymore.

The god didn't answer, he just stared at her discovering the place: he suddenly forgot about his worries.

The forest was definitely a beauty; ancient and blessed by silence.

"I've been here already, long ago" the girl couldn't keep her smile, and she started walking toward the sound of water.

"I know- he replied, walking next to her- that's where I saw it. He reminds me of other places too".

"Do you have forests in Asgard?"

"No, we don't."

"No?- Rebecca was negatively surprised- How can you not have them?"

"It's hard for you to think of other worlds, but all the planets are different … You will be surprised, but the Earth is the only one which owns a part of all of them. It has the icy lands of Jotunheim, as much of Hel's deserts. Asgard is a beautiful place, but its nature is… shrew. It's like a never ending garden. Peaceful, joyful…"

"It sounds…"

"Perfect?"

"Boring… Actually I think it sounds boring!"

The prince looked her in surprise: nobody had ever dared saying a thing like that of the house of the Gods, expect from himself.

He had always grow up restless in the domesticated meadows of Asgard, where a plain hill might looked like a challenge.

"Did you see them all? The other worlds?".

Rebecca was in front of him, standing on a rock and admiring a wild river. Her hair were messy and she has managed to dirty her jeans and sweatshirt already.

"Yes, there are nine. The first one is Muspelheim…" Loki started telling stories once again, and they kept going in the forest, their voices echoing all around the trees.

* * *

thanks for reading! :) Leaving a message if you liked it :)


	12. Children of the Autumn

**_11: Children of the autumn_**

* * *

It was late in the afternoon when the forest became colder and dark, the sun hidden by the tall pines. Rebecca looked around a bit anxious of being lost and away from home. _Wait, did I really think about that flat as home?!_ She thought, but it was too late to take it back. And Loki was talking to her too, imagining part of her feelings.

"Don't worry, we're almost arrived"

"Arrived? - she echoed him – Where?"

"It's just behind the corner. – and then he added, since she still looked doubtful- Our shelter for tonight. I thought you may have enjoyed staying a bit more here".

And just as they turned around a rocky bulge, there was a cottage waiting for them.

The timber house was emerging from the hill, as if it was a gem casually grow up from the mountain's interior. It laid down on a natural clearing, higher than the surrounding: when they arrived on the patio, the view was almost overwhelming.

Rebecca immediately felt in love with the place. Still, she was unsure about using it.

"Do you like it? I thought you might have!" the demigod said with proud.

"I do. But… Loki, this is not yours, you know? It's not right to use it…"

The look she gave him almost let the God of mischief feel guilty, but then he just found an easy solution for their consciences: "You're right… look, what if we paid them for the night? We'll leave the house intact as before, plus I will leave some money, or some gold…"

She still looked dubious, but when he opened the door, the interior seemed so inviting she couldn't resist. Anyway, nobody was going to use it that night… and if they were going to leave a payment, it seemed fair enough.

"It looks like golden curls's story!"- she whispered in delight, exploring the little world.

"It looks nice. But we can make it cosier…" Loki entered after her, closing the door. Two big windows faced the valley around them and the last light of the day was blessing the lunchroom, as to give them the possibility to prepare the space for the night.

"What about making a fire?" she said, going to take some woods from a spot under the fireplace.

"You don't need to get dirty… I can make it for you" the prince said, materializying a fireball in his hands.

Rebecca never stopped to be amazed by his magic: "That's so fucking cool! But… let's play to be humans, shall we?"

Making the fire was more hilarious then doing it by spells, it took a quarter of hour and at the end Loki made her promised they weren't going to do anything else in the "human way".

"We don't have any food, you really don't want to go and haunt something _I hope_".

"Mmm… I suppose we can spare that! What about some chestnuts?"

Loki smiled her warmly: "You do really are an autumn child".

"I do- she said defensively- Well, I don't think you're a summer child, do you?"

"I love Autumn as you do" replied him with a smirk, before to disappear with his magic.

Rebecca was alone in the secret hiding, the sound of the rain perfectly merged with the fire's: a warm feeling was keeping her happy, as she haven't felt for months.

Strangely, what seemed to be a nightmare, was turned in a fairytale… there is why her feeling for Loki were mixed. She was enjoying way too much that time together knowing inside her that she shouldn't have had.

She was still wondering lost when the Asgardian came back.

The prince looked at the girl from outside for a while before to come in.

He realized he had not locked her in and, with his relief, she didn't even try to run away. He gently and secretly explored her mind, her thoughts: they were rich of feeling's shades, which he liked to read as colours. Caring was a velvet pink, merged with a relaxing lilac. He searched for his name and there he found a deep red, strong and metallic like blood, dirtied by the wrong black of worries.

Loki felt badly aroused by that, longing to turn that colour into a pure rapture.

But he wasn't the time yet.

He came in, his hands cracked by the cold, and he left the supplied on the table. After a small talk, he went to have an hot shower. It was better for him to relax a bit before to come closer to that intoxicating vanilla's smell of Rebecca.

The water washed away his excitement, he cleaned himself long and well as to wash away all the impulses within the cold. He was there, with the company of a gracious lady, which company he desired for more than that night: the worlds and all their wickedness were far away from him.

Loki felt reborn. Clean. Pure.

He came out of the shower and he wrapped himself with a fresh towel, than he went to sit in front of the fireplace, like he had always used to do since he was a little child.

Rebecca blushed when he sat next to her with just his hips covered: Loki didn't fail to noticed it, with a flesh of surprise. These misgardians were so prudish sometimes! In Asgard nudity wasn't such a taboo and there was no shame in showing its body as long as it was an appropriate situation.

Still, why not provoke her a bit more?

"Can I…?" Loki asked, moving to reach a pillow from behind her.

"Oh yeah sure, no problem" she gasped, faking indifference regardless her cheeks becoming reddish.

_Damn, she is cute._ Loki thought, internally giggling for her reaction.

Rebecca dared to watch him as he finally took a sit: the fire sketches shadows on the bare skin and his green eyes were focused on the fireplace.

Loki's dark hair were still wet, long and curled when they met the start of his neck.

The God turned and gave her a smile so innocent that made her think if he wasn't hiding some malice.

They sat in silence for sometime.

"I have always loved sitting by the fire" he said. _Wow, I am really turning soft._

"Where I grow up we didn't have one…"

"Oh – his expressive eyebrows showed his sympathy- It was my favourite moment. We used to it especially when I was really young. Maybe I just liked it because my father still haven't start complaining about all I did" Loki realized he had used the word father as soon as his words died. The nostalgia he had felt suddenly went away, replaced by a sour pain.

Rebecca looked him lay his head on the couch and close his glassy eyes.

"Do you miss them?"

It was a risky question, after all he had told her about his family and origins, but he didn't turn mad again.

"Yeah, I do. Silly, right? I miss something it's forever lost to me"

When he talked his face was so concerned and emotional that Becca couldn't stop to think the guy was too much of a drama queen.

"You should do something about it"

"It's too late"

"Don't be such a loser… it's never too late. It's your family, they have to forgive you. Just.. explain your reasons? And I bet you never showed an inch of regret!"

He looked at her with his most stubborn face: "What do you think to know about me?"

Rebecca saw his muscles tensed, but she didn't stop. He had to grow up a bit and fall down of his high horse.

"So, am I wrong? Did you apology then?"

"There's not the point- he mumbled, adding after some other time- They think me death".

"Oh, that's good then. Surely the best thing to do to your parents. How can you do this to them?"

Loki sighed: obviously she didn't understand, from her human point of view.

"They are not even my parents" he said bitterly, hoping to close that annoying discussion.

He was surprised in feeling her hand gently taking over his. It was always surprising, the tiny warm of love.

"Loki… they raised you. They made you become the man you are. I am sure they do love you".

The semi god wondered a bit before to fix Rebecca again: with that sad face he looked no more than twenty now.

"I never felt understood" he whispered.

"Maybe they didn't. But they tried… and they love you, as all the parents do. It is so hard to believe you can be loved?"

Loki nod, slightly embarrassed of being exposed so much by her.

"I think you are very amiable when you want. You are smart, resourceful… and you have a lot of attentions for people you do care about. I think they are missing you a lot" she said, and then, surprising the asgardian as much of herself, she gently kissed him on his forehead.


End file.
